My aim is to offer insights into some of the more subtle principles underpinning prints. The commentary is based on thirty-eight years of teaching and the prints and other collectables that I am focusing on are those which I have acquired over the years.
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Wednesday, 8 June 2016

From “Metamorphoses
Book I”, published by Claes Jansz. Visscher (1587–1652)

Engraving on
laid paper on a support sheet paper

Size: (support sheet)
18.5 x 26.5 cm; (sheet) 17.1 x 24.9 cm

Lettered in
lower margin with four lines of Latin in two columns by Estius: "Ferreus
hinc fremuit ... / ... Pudore Fides.". Numbered twice in lower corners but
the numbering has been partially erased in this impression.

Condition: marvellous
impression trimmed to the borderline edge, but in poor condition. There are
thin areas and a small dot stain but the real issue is the significant
restorative support to a large burnt (?) section on the right side. The sheet
has been mounted on a support sheet with a black borderline.

I am selling this
major—but alas damaged—allegorical print from the workshop of Goltzius for a
total cost of AU$166 (currently US$123.96/EUR108.96/GBP85.06 at the time of
posting these print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested
in purchasing this remarkable engraving from“Metamorphoses Book I” published in 1598, please contact me
(oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make
the payment easy.

All the
elements that I love about Goltzius are revealed in this engraving. For
example, the key hallmarks of the latter style of Goltzius—one of the most skilful
and influential of the Dutch printmakers of the 16th and early 17th
centuries—are epitomised in the extreme musculature and theatrical gestures of
the warrior standing “spread eagled” with his lush moustache, elaborate helmet
and (dare I say it) very little else in the way of clothing. These attributes
are commonly known as “Spangerisms”—a term arising from the mannered later
style of Bartholomeus Spranger (1546–1611)—and in this print I can see “special”
muscles on the heroic figure’s thigh that would
make anatomists shake their heads in wonder. From a technical viewpoint, there
is also the rendering technique that made Golzius name famous: the “Dotted
Lozenge.” This device is simply a dot placed in between cross-hatched lines so
that the transition of tone from dark to light is facilitated. In terms of its
effect in making contours appear fluid and very real, this was a major advance
in the art of engraving and the delicate skill of the engraver(s) who employed
the dotted lozenge technique in this print is stunning.

The curator of
the British Museum offers the following insights about the publication of “Metamorphoses”:

“... a set of fifty-two prints (of an originally planned 300) after
Goltzius (Hollstein 508-559). These plates were originally published in three
sets (of respectively twenty, twenty and twelve plates), each separately
numbered and later numbered consecutively (which explains the double numbering
on the plates). The first two sets (i.e. forty plates) were designed by
Goltzius around 1589 and the third set around 1615. The plates were engraved in
the workshop of Goltzius, possibly by Jacob Matham, Jan Saenredam, Jan Muller,
Jacob de Gheyn II and Pieter de Jode. Goltzius probably intended to illustrate
all fifteen books of Ovid's Metamorphoses but abanded the project after three
books/sets after his trip to Italy in 1590-1591.